The San Diego chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is proud to announce the 2025 Journalist of the Year, inewsource investigative reporter Sofía Mejías-Pascoe.

Sofía is a rising star in San Diego’s journalism world, covering immigration and the border with insightful, impactful investigative and explanatory journalism that brings audiences into the lives of some of our most vulnerable community members.

When Sofía was tipped off about allegations of abuse against an on-duty Border Patrol agent last year, she used deep sourcing and digital investigative techniques to verify the claims and the agent’s identity, linking him to two incidents. A few months after publication, the District Attorney’s office announced charges against the agent. 

Last year, she provided unparalleled coverage of medical emergencies at the U.S.-Mexico border, investigating the response from federal, state and local agencies. Using public emergency responder data and drawing on her source network, Sofía gave an overview of calls and injuries at the border, but she also went beyond the statistics, telling the story of how humanitarian aid workers tried for nearly an hour to get help for an injured migrant woman stuck between the two border fences. Drawing on 9-1-1 call data and recordings, her reporting revealed how confusing and chaotic emergency responses to the border can be – and how Border Patrol plays a role in giving – or delaying – access to those in need of care.

Sofía is not only a great investigative reporter – she’s a storyteller who handles narratives with care. She earns the respect and confidence of her sources, from experts and officials to the migrants whose often tragic stories they entrust her to tell. For more than a year, Sofía followed a family in Tijuana as they waited for entry into the U.S. to make an asylum claim. The family of 19 had fled rural Mexico, the father with a bullet wound in his back. She chronicled their journey in heartbreaking detail to late last year, when some of the family still waited for a CBP One appointment, even as their asylum hopes were running out ahead of the presidential election. 

Sofía started last year demonstrating another reason she’s a journalist worth celebrating: leading a team of her colleagues to Jacumba, where they worked in shifts to cover migrant encampments for 48 hours straight. Sofía pieced together feeds from reporters in a narrative tick tock that provided a unique and detailed look at the migrant encampments, the people finding their way there and their interactions with immigration agents.  

Sofía’s exemplary reporting on the immigration beat started when she took on the role. 

Survivors of a migrant who died in federal custody filed a lawsuit after Sofía revealed in a 2022 investigation details about his death, including that Border Patrol had failed to seek medical care for the man after he fell from the U.S.-Mexico border wall. Nearly two hours later, the man collapsed and died while still in custody. 

After she reported that migrants without photo IDs were being turned away from county vaccine clinics and that county staff were confused about the policy, the county updated its guidance online to reflect that no photo ID would be required to receive vaccinations.

Sofía’s range as a reporter is continually expanding. She’s written about deaths along the U.S.-Mexico border and inadequacies in tracking them. She’s investigated wage theft and so-called “blind mule” smuggling. She’s fact-checked the political rhetoric about immigration coming from local politicians. She’s chronicled the challenges shelters in San Diego and Tijuana face in aiding migrants in the wake of shifting U.S. policy. She’s told stories of migrants who’ve become part of San Diego’s unhoused population. 

Please help us celebrate Sofía and her tremendous work at this year’s San Diego SPJ banquet. 

Buy tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/join-us-for-the-2025-spj-san-diego-awards-banquet-tickets-1374396138849.